KTMs have improved

Many of the new motorcycles qualify in the great and awesome categories. That's progress.

How the bikes hold up over time is another test.

Just imagine what supermoto bikes will be like 5-10 years from now. It's almost mind boggling.

ya know it's personal too. I love the 400 exc, like the 450 exc and want nothing to do with the 525 exc. For my taste the Husqvarna TE-510 is way way better then the 525exc, and the Fe550e is a close second.

that 525 exc is a one directional german WW II half track. sell it to some potato farmer to plow his fields. :lol:

Mine's not an '06, but comparing it to the '05 525 EXC I had & to my buddy's new 525 EXC, I still prefer the 'Berg. I think it feels lighter & handles better, the KTM is a nice bike, but the Husaberg feels lighter, stronger, & besides, I like the looks of it. Prejudiced, I know.

gotta say i am not so sure why they sell so many orange bikes.yes, they are pretty reliable but here is my recent experience with a KTM.I was in SOCAL last week and went out with Pete,the TM importer for a ride.we rode near Phelan CA ,high desert ,sand ,sage and hills and a rock or two just to keep you prepared for the worst.pete let me ride A 2006 KTM 250 sx with about 25 hours on it.this bike was all tricked out,too much to list.it even had a yamaha yz 250 front end on it trying to get the front end to bite.still did not bite.the motor pulled hard off the bottom and for a MX bike i was able to keep it running and even kind of lug it but it signed off way early and the back end felt numb.The front end feels just plain greasy.i just got a 2005 TM 250 enduro so that was my referrence point.it flat out rips and feels so lively comparred to the KTM.Now the KTM was set up by Ron lawson of DIRT BIKE magazine,he is an excellent rider and was born on a motorcycle and has all kinds of resources at his disposal yet this bike felt like a 2005 Kawasaki kx 250 that i used one day a few months back.i was not too impressed.i did not ride anyKTM 4 strokes lately to offer any feedback tho.dan.

In refrence to Dans post about the SX with Kayaba forks...........

I saw the write up on that bike in the recent DB mag, and I thought to myself, that's like putting lipstick on a pig. And by that I mean, the KTM is the lipstick and the Kayaba's are the pig. Main problem is IMHO, is that there isn't too many suspension tuners out there who know how to set up a bike with the PDS shock, or for that matter, the WP forks to get the most out of them.

As I have posted before, with the needle profile they have now, the bike needs a progressive spring. Which is in contrast to the 01's which needed a straight rate spring. I think it's in this months DB that has the article about "Slavens Mule". A KTM 300 set up for the high country. This Slaven guy is big, yet he is running .42kg springs in the front and a progressive spring in the rear. This is relatively close to what I'm running on my 04 550, and this is the first time I have seen in print where someone is not over springing the front end.

A good friend of mine recently bought a new 450MXC, and had the suspension set up by a well known shop that is local to us, a 10 minute drive, instead of making the 2 &1/2 hour round trip to the suspension guy we've been using for the last several years. This local shop has a great reputation for suspension set up, so on and so forth. My friend and I had gone riding a few times and he said the bike was firm but handled okay. I suggested trying softening up the clickers 2 to 4 on each end see how it felt. He even talked with the "local" shop to get there advice, and it was the same save for how much free sag the bike should have. After making these adjustments he tried it out and said it was better. After a particularly gnarly desert race I could not believe my friends hands, they litterally looked like they had been pulled through some sort of power tool. The palms of his hands were totally covered in blisters that were so bad his hands were bleeding. When I helped him load up his bike, there was blood all over the grips!!!!!!!! I think it took his hands 3 weeks to fully heal.

I'm sure you could see where this story was going for a while now, so he took his suspension to our regular guy, ate a big plate of crow, and got his suspension set up by him. He has ridden several desert races since then, and guess what? No blisters and the bike works awesome. And, not only does our suspension guy's set up work great in the desert, it works great in just about every area we go to, including the forest. I also happen to know a guy in our club who races an 05 250SX who has our guy set up his suspension, and he has nothing but praise for it.

The KTM's are great bikes, they just need to be set up properly. And there are only a few guys around that know how to set them up.

I was riding KTM's when they were looked at like the Husaberg's are now. Cottage industry bike with a great motor, and good suspension components that not many knew how to set up proper, hardly anyone made any aftermarket components for the bikes. Mainly b/c you didn't need any aftermarket parts, everything was there, sound familiar? I owned my 1986 KTM 250MXC for twelve years, and finally sold it to my friends son in 1998, and he sold it to a friend of his and the bike is still being ridden today. Hell the original rod lasted 15 years. It is/was a very reliable bike that never left me stranded b/c of a bad design or component failure.

The new KTM bikes, they have a great add campaign the bikes are durable, and most amazingly, KTM was on the verge of disappearing 12 years ago due to financial woes, and they have come a long way. The have a seat for every *** so to speak. However, they still need to be set up better. And if don't know the difference between a bike that handles like a P O S, and one that does handle good, and everything you read tells you that this shop and that shop is the place to go to get set up, and they set the bike up OKAY, but not great how are you gonna know???

In closing I will say this, anyone who has ridden my Husaberg's for even a short while, has said that the Husaberg's handling is superior to the KTM's, as well as other bikes, and the Berg felt lighter and made better power.

Would you expect any other statement from a 3 time Husaberg owner???

I have just bought an 06 ktm 300 i have it parked next to my 04 450 berg and i can't believe how tall the berg is,i raced the 300 on sunday and it had the most traction i have experienced it was like my old 400 berg.

To expand on EO Dale's coments in referencing suspension and set up I beleive it was Paul Thede at Race Tech that said"you only know as good as you have ridden" Knowledge of the complete package is power and hard to come by.

if husaberg had simply bored the 400 out they would have had the same ratio as the KTM will have. husaberg have this fascination with the 100mm bore.

i shall soon have my 97 x 60 ready i hope.

regards

Taffy